President Obama: ‘The world is shaped by people like Jim Foley’

President Obama Wednesday afternoon delivered a statement on the beheading of American photojournalist James Foley by ISIS.

A video posted to YouTube on Tuesday was confirmed authentic by National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden on Wednesday. In it, Steven Sotloff, a freelance journalist who has written for TIME that was kidnapped in August 2013 is also shown, and threats on his life made.

In remarks from Martha’s Vineyard, Obama said, “No just God would stand for what they did yesterday or every single day…People like this ultimately fail. They fail because the future’s won by those who build and not destroy. The world is shaped by people like Jim Foley.”

Earlier Wednesday, Obama offered his condolences to Foley’s family via phone, describing Foley as, “a man who lived his work, who courageously told the stories of his fellow human beings, who was liked and loved by friends and family.”

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